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Hello all. As an intermediate member, this is the only place I can create a new thread and I have not found any threads of this nature.

I don’t know if this is a known fact or not, but the 1.5 second clip of Boba Fett in flight from the sail barge in Return of the Jedi was not shot during principle filming in the desert, but in the Northridge, CA back yard of stuntman Bob Yerkes.

The original flight was indeed shot on location in Yuma with a different stuntman. But Lucas did not like the scene as it looked too much like “a man swinging on a cable”. So, the suit (Boba Fett) and a second unit was sent to Bob Yerkes’ home in Northridge, CA. where the scene was re-shot with Bob taking flight from a 10’ Russian (catapult) Swing into an airbag. Several takes were shot, and on one, Bob singged a glove and burned his hand on one of the thruster squibs as he left the swing.

The Brak's Buddy screencap is Bob Yerkes in flight. The other photo was taking by my sister during filming in Bob’s backyard. The kid in the pic with Bob is one of my little brothers.

Bob has been a friend of the family since the late 70’s. I had started a career in the film industry working for Bob and had just left a few months prior the ROTJ shooting to pursue my career of flying trapeze. Poop! Missed it by that much.

I was laid off from work this past Friday so in my newly acquired spare time I’ll be visiting Bob and sister looking for more photos taken that day. Humm, I wonder if there is any video?

Thanks for the interest. Glad I have something substantial to contribute to TDH. I will try to get my brother and sister to write of their experience that day to post here. I also will ask to get input from Bob Yerkes.

As far as the job goes...oh well. I'm not at all religious but I do believe things happen for some purpose. Might be time for me to get SkiDock™ on the market.

Cool! This is not to dispute you, but I always assumed that shot was fillmed with Jeremy Bulloch standing on a ladder and a sweeping camera move that didn't show his feet. Theres a pic of Bulloch standing on the ladder in a couple books.

Cool! This is not to dispute you, but I always assumed that shot was fillmed with Jeremy Bulloch standing on a ladder and a sweeping camera move that didn't show his feet. Theres a pic of Bulloch standing on the ladder in a couple books.

It just goes to show you it's never as simple as you think. Heh.

That isn't Jeremy on the ladder. Jeremy was never in Yuma. That is the other stuntman.

Yup... Actually if you take a look at the cod piece, you will see a lot of red on the right edge, and you will see it again in the movie shot, indicating the cod is made of the same red rubbery material as the stunt helmet he is wearing. I am of the opinion that all of the hard parts on this suit are of the soft red material. Thanks to Tyler for pointing out the red.

BooBoo welcome aboard and thank you very much for sharing this with us.

That red cod material reminds me on the original Leia Slave costume that I saw at the exhibition in paris.
Maybe it is the same material.

Mike

ART ANDREWS said:

Yup... Actually if you take a look at the cod piece, you will see a lot of red on the right edge, and you will see it again in the movie shot, indicating the cod is made of the same red rubbery material as the stunt helmet he is wearing. I am of the opinion that all of the hard parts on this suit are of the soft red material. Thanks to Tyler for pointing out the red.